


Birthday Basher

by Discet



Series: Artifacts Arc [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya-centric, F/F, F/M, Gen, Insecurity, New Crushes, Slow Burn, personal discovery, reassurance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-13 15:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14115399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Discet/pseuds/Discet
Summary: Everything is coming up Alya! She has a jam packed weekend celebrating her birthday, a sleepover after school on Friday, a date with Nino on Saturday, and finishing with a family dinner on Sunday. Her two heroes even have a surprise for her leading into the weekend.If all of that wasn't enough, her older sister Nina is even coming home for the weekend! It's a good thing nothing could possibly go wrong!





	Birthday Basher

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is the second in a series, so there is some key information and forshadowing left in part one. I highly recommend reading it first. That said, I'm not your mom, so if you would prefer to read on without context be my guest.

“After school tomorrow we can go shopping for a few hours before we head back  for the sleepover! I’ve gotten my parents to make those caramels you like and all the girls will bring different snacks-” Marinette rattled off all the plans for Alya’s birthday celebration. 

Alya smiled at her friend's enthusiasm, “You’re really pumped up for this, aren’t you?” 

“Well of course!” Marinette said with a slight scowl as she looked at her best friend. “You didn’t let me shower you in gifts last year!” She pointed a finger, almost accusingly, at Alya. 

“We'd only known each other for two weeks. I didn’t want to put you out,” Alya tried to reason.

“Well, thanks to your ‘consideration,’” she put finger quotes around the word, “ _ I’ve  _ been unable to give my best friend the celebration she deserves.” She leaned against Alya, languishing as if she were history’s greatest victim.

“Sorry, sorry. ” Alya rolled her eyes- her friend could be ridiculous sometimes. 

“Plus, I’ll finally get to meet your sister, right? Or, older sister anyway.”

Alya looked nearly giddy at the mention, smiling wide. “Yeah, Nina! Oh Marinette, you’ll love her, she’s the coolest!” she nearly squealed, “She taught me everything I know about computers, not to mention introducing me to the fabulous world of superheroes!” Alya loved her sister, she looked up to her. She had been her hero, right up until actual superheroes became a thing.

“Sounds like I might have a new best friend,” Marinette teased. 

Alya put a arm around her shoulder pulling her in close. “Oh, don’t act like you're not stuck with me for life.” Marinette giggled as Alya poked her in the cheek. Alya released Marinette when she spotted Nino waiting by the road, looking at his phone. 

“See you tomorrow, Alya.”  Marinette gave a slight wave, heading towards her home on the corner.

Alya walked towards Nino, who was bobbing his head, headphones on. She leaned over waving her hand at the corner of his vision. He lit up, sliding his headphones around his neck 

“Hey.” He stood up, giving her a quick peck on the lips, and asked, “Ready to head home?” Alya nodded, since the start of the year it had become a habit to walk home together. Between school and their dedication to their hobbies, they didn’t have a lot of time during the week to hang out. “We on for Saturday?” 

“Totally.” Alya smiled. After her sleepover on Friday, she had a date with Nino on Saturday, finishing the weekend with a little family celebration on Sunday. It was jam packed compared to last year. “What were you listening to?” she asked and Nino lit up again.

“Oh man, there’s this new artist I stumbled onto last night, here one sec,” he took out his phone and started searching through Youtube. Alya smiled as he went on about all of the awesome things the artist had managed to pull off. Techniques they had used and strange instruments they had brought in. He had a way of talking about music that was so engrossing. Alya hadn’t had such a interest in music beyond what was popular, but now she could pick apart any song she listened to.

Nino was just super cool, and that was all before she heard what he could do with a turntable.  She remembered how nervous he had been when they first started going out. Now they had found a comfortable pattern in their relationship. It was… nice. Comfortable.

-

“Heehee!” Etta ran around the couch with Alya close on her tail, Ella already under her right arm. “Can’t catch me!” Etta laughed jumping back and forth. As she tried to juke her older sister, her father scooped her up from behind, “Hey! No fair!” she complained as Alya and her father carried the both of them to their bedroom. 

“Goodnight girls,” their mother called from the kitchen cleaning up after their dessert. 

“Goodnight Mom!” they called back.

Alya and her father tucked them into bed, “Now good girls who get to go to amusement parks need to get their rest,” their father intoned, giving each a kiss on the forehead. 

“Yes papa!” the two said before sitting up in their bed to look at Alya.

“You better wait to open presents!” Etta said pointing at her.

“Yeah! Our’s is gonna be the best so you better wait!” Ella said 

Alya ruffled both of their hair. “Sure thing. Now be good for Mom and Dad for the weekend alright?”

“Okay!” they both agreed, before flopping down into their beds. 

Otis Césaire flipped off the light switch and quietly shut the door. “Thanks honey.”

“Sure thing!” Alya stretched. “Well, I’m gonna do a little cleaning up and hit the hay too, goodnight Dad, goodnight Mom.”

“Oh, actually,” Marlena piped up, dropping a washcloth to the counter. “I have an early birthday present for you. Otis could you go grab it?” Otis gave a nod and headed off to the master bedroom. Alya and her mom went back to Alya’s room and sat down on her bed. “So, I know all you asked was a quiet house for your sleepover-” Alya got a little worried crease on her forehead, familiar images of the twins causing chaos during her sleepover raced in her head. “-and you will get that,” Marlena assured quickly, “but I do have one other gift for you.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out an old looking ornate key. 

It was made from plain iron, but the head of the key had careful design cut from it in the shape of a twelve pointed star. “This is one part of a family heirloom” she said holding out the key for Alya to take. “Your great grandfather bought a trunk for traveling back in New Orleans. With it he traveled all over the world. Starting in Mexico before jumping the Pacific to the Philippines. Onward to Vietnam, then Egypt, working and learning as he went. All the way until he landed here in France and decided to settle down.”

Alya ran her fingers across the metal key it was rough and felt somewhat like handling a thing out of a museum. Then with a huff of effort her father came through the door carrying something massive. It was a old wooden chest with iron bands reinforcing it. It looked big enough to fit someone in. It also looked like it should be full of pirate treasure.

“It’s been passed down the family ever since then,” Marlena explained with a smile, “and now I was hoping I could pass it onto you...” she said her eyes wide and expectant. 

Alya looked at the old trunk, it was almost the polar opposite of her rooms clean and sleek aesthetic. The wood was chipped and splintering in some places. “Nina didn’t want it?”

“Nina-” her mother looked to the side- “has always been more of a homebody...”

“And the twins would fight over who would get it,” her father added. 

“Plus, we know that you were hoping to do some traveling at some point...” Her mother bit her lip, the way she always did when she got nervous. “I never got the chance for globe trotting… but if you think you could use it...” 

Alya felt a little bad about being skeptical about the gift. “Yes! Yes of course!” If nothing else she could use it to keep the twins out of some of her stuff. “Sorry, I was just surprised. Where have you been keeping this?” She pulled the trunk closer to her to get a better look at it. 

“Back of the closet, mostly. We kept tax records in it,” Otis explained. 

Her mother seemed a little less nervous and continued, “hopefully you will have more exciting memories with it. Your great grandfather used to tell me all about his adventures when I was little.” She looked wistful. “He said that the trunk always had exactly what he needed.” 

Alya looked a little skeptical at that, wondering how convenient a hundred pound trunk could possibly be. “Thank you so much Mom, Dad.” she jumped up hugging each of them in turn. 

They said goodnight to each other and Alya looked at her chest, looking around for a place for it. She eventually decided to drag it back between the wall and her bed. She filled it with her extra old school supplies and books that had overflowed off of her book case. 

Once satisfied with where it was and stuffing it with the clutter from her room, she did a quick cleanup of her room in general. She wanted a nice place for her friends to sleep tomorrow night after all. 

She quickly picked up what loose clothes there were and threw them in the hamper. She managed to clear her dresser of everything but her little Ladybug and Chat Noir figurines; the power couple posed so it looked like they were holding hands. She did a quick dusting by way of lifting the figures and sweeping the length of her sleeve across the top. Motes of dust flew up and she smiled at the clean black of the painted wood. After a few minutes she was satisfied with the state of things, as she was about to change for bed she heard a tapping at her window, she whirled around to see a very unexpected sight. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir were standing on her balcony. She said a short prayer in thanks that they hadn’t come by a minute later, and quickly opened the door to the balcony

“Ladybug, Chat, what're you doing here?” she asked in a whisper.

“Well, we heard that one very special lady was having a birthday this weekend.” Chat winked with his trademark charm. 

“And,” Ladybug cut in, “we thought as a little early present, we could sit down for that interview we promised.”

Alya’s once sleepy mind suddenly felt energized and ready for an all nighter. This is what she had been dreaming of ever since the two heroes had made their debut. She felt herself almost shaking with excitement. 

“Oh-oh-oh, give me just one sec!” Alya did a quick pat down of her pockets making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Confirming that, she went and grabbed a sweatshirt from her drawers. She slipped it on while doing her best to avoid stumbling to the balcony. She failed near the end, and started tripping while her head was still trapped in the comfy folds of cotton. 

A strong pair of hands caught her and, after a moment, pulled her head through the collar of the sweatshirt. Alya was suddenly very close to the bright blue masked eyes of her hero, Ladybug. “Hey, take a breath, there’s no rush.”

“R-right,”  Alya stuttered, feeling embarrassed as she stood back up. “So should we do it here, or-”

“Alya! Who are you talking to?” Marlena called through the door. 

Ladybug and Chat looked nervous suddenly, looking at each other, but Alya smoothly called back, “Sorry Mom, talking to Marinette.”

“Okay. Don’t stay up too late, it's not the weekend yet.”

Alya smiled turning back to her heroes, Ladybug looked especially nervous. It was funny to think the heroine of Paris was so unsettled by parental interaction. Alya lowered her voice. “Maybe somewhere else then?” she suggested and the two heroes nodded in silent agreement. 

They both moved at the same time to pick up Alya for transport. They stopped awkwardly before Chat bowed gesturing for Ladybug to go ahead. Ladybug rolled her eyes and put an arm around Alya, spinning up her yoyo, “You know the drill, hang on tight.” Alya nodded wrapping her arms around her neck as the two swung through the night sky. 

After a little wandering, the three eventually found a balcony for a little bistro that was closed for the night. It was right on the corner of a footpath so there weren’t any noisy cars going by. They each pulled out a chair for themselves.

Alya fished in her pocket for her phone. “Okay let me just set this up to record a-” she stopped, as she turned on the screen, seeing the battery icon in the corner of the screen was a dark red displaying only 4% remaining. She usually charged her phone at night, and she had left her portable battery in her backpack.

“Everything alright?” Ladybug asked with mild concern. 

Alya shoved the frown from her face waving her hand. “It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

Fortunately she always carried a backup notebook. She pulled out a little pocket sized black notebook, flipping to one of the empty pages. Now she just needed a pen and-. She felt the pocket that usually carried her backup pen only to realize it was empty. 

“No-no-no-no,” she started to whisper in a quickly building panic. Here she was, ready to have an in depth interview with Chat Noir and Ladybug, and she had  _ nothing _ to record it with!? 

She has had actual nightmares about this. Next thing she was going to look down to realize she had forgotten to get dressed.

“Did you forget something? We could go back and grab it.” Ladybug offered starting to stand up.

“No!” she said adamantly. That would be ridiculously unprofessional. How could she criticize the mainstream media and screw up on something this basic? She stood up fastidiously patting herself down for something, anything that she could use to write with. A nubby pencil, mechanical pencil lead, hell a sharp piece of charcoal would be welcome! 

_ I just need a pen! _

Suddenly as she dove her hand into the front left pocket for a third desperate time, she felt a pen… appear? It had definitely not been there before. Slowly, confused, she pulled out the pen, looking at it like the foreign object it was. 

“Everything okay?” Chat asked, now also concerned.

“No, no sorry, I thought I had somehow forgotten to bring something to take notes with. I’m ready.” she took her seat again and the two heroes smiled amicably. Strange magic pens could wait, for later. She had a job to do. “So, I had a few questions about the first villain you fought, Stoneheart.”

-

The interview had been everything she could have dreamed for. Or, everything she could hope for anyways. She wasn’t any closer to finding either of their identities, but she had learned so much more! 

They explained what was so weird about the Cat Burglar. She was excited to go digging for these past heroes made by the Moth miraculous. Oh, and she had learned Hawk Moth's whole motivation, which was fascinating. Ultimate power over reality if you got both the Ladybug and Cat miraculous. Which meant the akuma victims were only a way to draw out the two heroes. 

After this busy weekend was done, she was going to need to pull a few all nighters. As they were wrapping up, she used the last of her phone battery to record both heroes confirming the interview was legit. Hopefully she wouldn’t look like some lying conspiracy theorist.

“Well!” Chat stood up from his chair stretching after the hour and a half long grilling of everything he knew about the world. “It’s been nice, but it is getting pretty late.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll be fine” Alya said carefully closing her notebook and slipping it as deep and securely into her pocket as she could. 

“You? I’m talking about me. I need regular  _ cat _ naps to keep looking this handsome, you know.” He flashed a toothy grin.

Ladybug rolled her eyes but a small grin was on her lips. That had been another surprising thing. It seemed like the two’s friendly banter was just that. Friendly. There was a lot of flirting from Chat toward Ladybug, but Ladybug just seemed humored by him. If there were feelings of love, they seemed decidedly one sided. 

Which is a shame, she owed Marinette a soda now. She could have sworn all of Ladybug’s denials of their relationship was a cover.

“Well alright. I don’t want to step in on your beauty sleep.” Alya shook her head. 

“Come on. I’ll take you home Alya.” Ladybug offered her hand out to Alya .

Chat drew out his staff, twirling it behind him as he bowed. “I bid you two lovely ladies a good night,” he said, and then launched himself in the air. 

Alya watched him fly off before Ladybug got her attention again. “Ready to go?” Alya nodded holding on tight to her hero as they once again went soaring across the streets of Paris. Alya tried her best to not squeal from giddiness at getting to be this close to her hero twice in one day. Ladybug landed on her balcony, barely making any noise. 

“There we go,” she whispered, satisfied with Alya’s safe delivery.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity, Ladybug.” She pulled out her notebook, flipping to the notes excitedly. 

“Sure thing, you did us a huge favor with that whole Cat Burglar fiasco. It’s really the least we could do,” Ladybug responded humbly. Alya nodded, she was so glad her hero was as kind and wonderful as she seemed to be. So many were let down by their heroes when they met them. But not Alya, Ladybug was just the sort of person you’d hope she would be. Going around saving the day. Helping others and inspiring people. Must be nice…

“Alya?” Ladybug was looking at her with concern, “are you alright?”

Alya realized her smile had at some point slipped, but she quickly forced one back on. What was she doing, this was supposed to be the best night of her life! “It’s nothing, sorry, just got lost in a thought.”

Ladybug didn’t seem convinced and leaned against the railing of Alya’s balcony, “Well if you want to talk about it, I still have some time...”

Alya looked at her. There  _ was _ something she wanted to ask, but… “No, no. I’ve already taken up so much of your time,” she said, waving her hand. 

“You can’t take what’s freely given,” she offered again, and a short period of silence passed between them. “Are you sure there’s nothing you want to talk about?”

Alya’s forced smile fell, because there  _ was _ something she wanted to talk about. She had wanted to talk about it for a long time actually. But, their encounters were so chaotic or crowded…  who knew when she might have a private moment with Ladybug again? “Cou… could I ask you something? Off the record?” she placed her little black bound book on her dresser.

Ladybug smiled clearly pleased to be trusted by the young reporter. “Of course.”

Alya looked at her hero. She ran her thumb over her knuckle, a nervous tick from childhood that hadn’t surfaced in years. She felt uncharacteristically vulnerable. Usually she didn’t give others that much power over her, but with Ladybug, she couldn’t help it. “Did… did I mess up?” she asked in a whisper.

Ladybug’s friendly openness shifted to confused concern, “What do you mean?”

Alya bit her lip. “Back when I was Rena Rogue,” she started, but Ladybug didn’t seem to understand, so she kept going. “It's just, I figured when you needed the fox miraculous back that… that it was like a tryout?” she tried to explain, not looking at her. “So, I assumed afterwards you and Chat would decide if I should join permanently… and since it’s been months and you'd tried others...” She felt an uneasiness inside her broiling. “I guessed, assumed, that I had-” failed- “I didn’t make the cut,” she trailed off, feeling a sting in the back of her throat and hating herself a little bit for it. 

“Alya...” She looked back up, and saw the worry and concern had increased.

Alya stepped back, wiping the start of a tear before it had a chance to fall. Desperately she tried to bury those feelings as deep as she could shove them, “Wow, that. That must have sounded just. So pathetic.” She stepped back. “I’m sure that this is what you need to hear right? Some fangirl putting you through a guilt trip?” she asked, and chuckled sadly, turning away from Ladybug. “I would appreciate if you would just forget I said anything.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for her hero to awkwardly swing away. God, could she have made a bigger idiot of herself? 

Alya felt a hand on her shoulder and she tensed up, great now her hero was going to pity her. “Could you look at me?” Alya, never one to hide from her problems for long, turned to face them. Despite her expectations, there was no pity in Ladybug’s eyes, only empathy. Alya turned fully to face her hero, and felt herself jump as Ladybug took her hands in her own. 

“Alya. You didn’t mess up,” she started and Alya could almost feel that truth travel through her hands. “Alya you were amazing! Remember my early fights? All the bumbling and mistakes? You had none of those! You fit your miraculous like a glove,” Alya felt warm from all the praise. Doubly so thanks to the bright earnestness in Ladybug’s eyes, a look that she had seen on herself when she edited videos for the Ladyblog. 

“Then… why?” Alya asked scrunching up her shoulders. 

Ladybug frowned but didn’t break eye contact. “It’s… it’s complicated, Alya. But me and Chat? We’re only borrowing our miraculous too. We don’t get to decide who does and doesn’t keep them…” Alya felt herself fall a little looking at the ground between them. It helped that she hadn’t done anything to mess up her chances, but it hurt to know it was completely out of her control. “... I don’t know when, or if I can let you use the miraculous again.” She felt the smooth texture of Ladybugs gloved thumb rub at her wrist, drawing Alya’s attention back to her face. “But if it were my decision? If I could only choose one person in all of Paris to join Chat and I? There is no one I would want watching our back more than the smart, strong, and awesome Rena Rogue.”

Alya searched Ladybug’s eyes for any sign of false flattery or deception, but could only see the same open, kind, and honest eyes she had seen in the young hero since Stoneheart. Her own eyes became blurry for a moment as tears started to openly fall down her face. 

Ladybug, clearly panicked a little bit, spoke quickly. “What, ah! I didn’t, I’m sorry! Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to make you cry! Why are you crying?” 

Alya laughed, wiping at her eyes with the palm of her hands. “Oh man, how embarrassing. I’m just so relieved… geez. I swear, normally I’m much cooler than thi-” she was cut off as Ladybug knocked the wind out of her with a bone crushing hug.

“I know, you’re one of the coolest people I know.”

“C- cooler than Chat?” 

Ladybug let her down, a wry smile “Well, I mean. You’ve met him. He’s got plenty of great qualities, but ‘cool’ isn’t one of them.” The two laughed a bit as Alya rubbed the last of her tears away. As their laughs subsided there was a comfortable beat of silence between the two, Ladybug looked at her, a little worried still, and asked, “are you alright?”

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.”

“I am sorry Alya. If I could-”

“I know.” Alya said her usual air of confidence back. “Now, I may not need the same beauty sleep as our delicate feline friend. But I do have school tomorrow.” Alya said with a yawn. 

“Alright. Goodnight Rena,” Ladybug said with a sly smile before launching herself off the balcony and swinging down the dark streets of Paris. Alya closed the balcony door behind her and drew the curtains.

As her greatest worry of the last few months slid from her shoulders, Alya suddenly felt very, very tired. She took a slow breath that turned into a drawn out yawn. As she turned herself toward her bed, her eyes caught sight of the two figurines on her dresser. A little prickle of… annoyance went through her. She lifted a sleepy finger to where the two’s hands were clasped and gave a gentle poke. The two figures rocked slightly, breaking their hand-holding. 

“Girl can do better,” she muttered to herself as she headed to bed. Half asleep already, she changed into her sleepwear. She flopped on her bed without ceremony, riding the euphoria of Ladybug's compliments into a restful sleep. 

Or she would have. 

But then her eyes popped open and she scrambled from her bed for her discarded pants, digging through all the pockets.

Where the hell had that pen come from?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here is start of part 2 for the Artifacts arc. If read the Shade Knife, then welcome back, and for everyone new, welcome for the first time!
> 
> So this fic is going to be Alya-centric I hope you enjoy :).


End file.
